Sue Prent Posts

There is one item on that agenda that is so absolutely essential to human survival that we must not set it aside even to attend to other problems. That essential is clean water. Without it, life, human or otherwise, will simply be over... in relatively short order.

The weekend edition of the Messenger carries an editorial by Rob Roper of the right-wing Ethan Allen Institute advocating for Vermont to join 24 other states in passing a so-called "Right-to-Work" law. The timing is odd since this red-flag originally saw the light of day way back in August, when it was carried by Vermont Digger.

Ridgeline wind continues to be controversial, and offshore wind comes with its own set of on-site issues, including a much higher installation cost. However, if America is ever going to replace fossil fuels with clean alternatives, wind has to be part of the mix. Some innovative designers and engineers have come up with a solution worthy of Jules Verne: floating turbines.

Doug Hoffer, Vermont State Auditor, ran in the primaries as a Progressive. He must really be well-liked. Not only did Progressives elect him – so did Democrats and Republicans in each of their primaries.

If you assumed that, with the triple meltdown at Fukushima still unresolved, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency would climb out of the pocket of industry and soberly embrace its role as a safety regulator, you were sadly mistaken. On August 26, the NRC endorsed the safety of long-term onsite storage of nuclear waste, either in dry cask storage, or in spent fuel pools, which were originally designed for use over just a few years. This decision says that it is safe to leave spent fuel in these pools for sixty, a hundred, even 120 years.

Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may not hail from a populous state; and he may not benefit from the weight of a major party propelling him forward; but he is looking more and more like a force to be reckoned with in the hallowed halls of Congress. And perhaps in the Oval Office some day soon.

Once touted as the answer to U.S. energy consumers' dreams, it is beginning to look like the natural gas extraction process known as "fracking" may be as much of an environmental obscenity as the name suggests. From poisoned wells to frackquakes, methane release to quality of life drains, hydraulic fracturing hasn't been all it was cracked up to be. So why not add a little radiation to the mix?

On Monday, in one of those infamous "5-4" decisions, the Supreme Court signaled something of a change in the weather. This time, the "five" sided with progressive interests rather than against. The question was whether or not the (Bush administration) EPA would be allowed to impose regulations controlling greenhouse gasses.

When corporations design GMO crops their motive cannot always be counted upon to be benign. In fact, rather than to make a food crop more nutritionally dense, the most common motives for modifying the organism is to increase the yield, make it more attractive, pest resistant, shelf-stable or easier to ship. Two counties in Oregon decided to outlaw GMO crops — so naturally the Monsanto defenders of the unnatural are out in full force and in quite the tizzy.

The news media has, for the most part, acted as passive receivers of official reports from the Japanese government, applying no scrutiny of their own, so that the American public has remained under-curious about this enormous and continuing crisis. However, on last night's HBO "Vice" program, journalists ventured into the contamination zone at the Fukushima nuclear plant to capture some troubling visuals and stories.

Right in the middle of California's checkerboard of unprecedented wildfires, halfway between the huge population centers of Los Angeles and San Diego, is the recently decommissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station with its spent fuel stockpile of 1,677 rods still sitting in cooling ponds. Water is the only thing preventing the rods from melting down and releasing unimaginable amounts of deadly radiation into the environment; and water is the first thing to go in a boiling environment.

In the aftermath of last week's Supreme Court decision unleashing an unlimited flow of cash and influence on our political system, the concerns of Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer that "whistleblowers" be insulated against reprisals, gain particular prescience. Hoffer joins Jed Guertin and others in asking lawmakers to strengthen the protections for individuals who bring to light wrongdoing in their government workplace.

Can democracy withstand the assault? Corporate cronyism has run amok, and the term 'plutocracy' has been thrown around reputable news sites, not just the fringe. The Supreme Court's McCutcheon decision seems just another nail in the coffin, and a far cry from the noble institutions our founding fathers envisioned.

It has always been required of those seeking a license to build and operate a nuclear power plant to have in place a "quality assurance program" from the very start, when core-borings and critical assessments are made in order to evaluate the suitability of a planned siting. The NRC no longer requires this until after the application process. Not only does this undermine long-term safety surrounding the potential site, but also that of potential whistle-blowers.

It comes as little surprise to Vermonters that equipment provided by Entergy Louisiana's sister division, Entergy New Orlean's, has finally been identified conclusively as the reason for the Superbowl blackout.

A new podcast from Fairewinds Associates, and a new video featuring Arne Gundersen, raise some concerning questions about what might happen, in the wake of Sandy's floodwaters, to the large number of nuclear reactors in her path.
The podcast also considers the findings of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute that there has been no drop-off in the level of radiation in Japanese coastal waters. ...

And now for something completely different.
That dreary step-cousin of "Vermonters First," "Vermonter's For Health Care Freedom" has once again dragged its oxymoronic little self into our peripheral vision.
What caught our eye this time is another one of those pathetic push pulls that read sort of like the joke that goes: "when did you stop beating your wife?"
The "poll," to which anyone could respond (and I did) until it was pulled-down this afternoon, was very similar to a discredited poll by the same group back in 2011.
That previous online poll was...